reinforcement by a corps commanded by
Gen. James Longstreet. When Rosecrans re-
sumed his cautious advance, the Confeder-
ates suddenly turned and attacked, routing
him at the Battle of Chickamauga on Septem-
ber 18–19, 1863. Both sides suffered heavy
losses, but the heroic stand of Gen. George H.
Thomas saved the remnants of the Union
army. Nonetheless, Bragg squandered this,
the only major Confederate victory in the
west, by failing to pursue the enemy. Instead,
he elected to besiege Chattanooga while si-
multaneously weakening his army by detach-
ing Longstreet’s corps and other forces and
sending them to fight in a futile campaign in
eastern Tennessee. Soon after, Gen. Ulysses S.
Grant arrived at Chattanooga with sizable re-
inforcements, and he routed Bragg’s remain-
ing army on November 23, 1863. The Confed-
erates fell back to Dalton, Georgia, where
Bragg was formally relieved and replaced by
Joseph E. Johnston. He then spent several
months as military adviser to Jefferson Davis
at Richmond. Bragg was eventually dis-
patched to take command of remaining units
in North Carolina, but when Fort Fisher was
attacked and captured in January 1865, he
made no effort to aid in its defense. He ended
the war commanding a division under John-
ston and surrendered with him in April 1865.
After the war, Bragg served as commis-
sioner of public works in Alabama for many
years before moving to Galveston, Texas, to
work as chief engineer of the Gulf, Colorado,
and Santa Fe Railroad. He died in Galveston
on September 27, 1876. His brother, Thomas
Bragg, had been the Confederate attorney
general.Bibliography
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bana: University of Illinois Press, 1990; Cozzens,
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